Today’s guest is Reinis Krēgers, a former champion decathlete turned track and physical education coach. Reinis is dedicated to building complete movers: fast, coordinated, confident athletes who understand their bodies. His training blends classical sprint development with exploratory tasks, helping athletes develop physical literacy and long-term adaptability.

In sports performance, we often fixate on exercises, cues, and optimizing micro-qualities in the moment. What we discuss far less, yet what often separates the elite, is the role of play, creativity, and culture. By looking closely at events like the pole vault and hurdles, we can see how a developmental, curiosity-driven approach benefits athletes of every sport.

In this episode, Reinis shares the remarkable story of losing a finger, training exclusively with his non-dominant hand, and still setting a shot put PR. This opens the door to a rich discussion on cross-education, novelty, and how the brain actually learns movement. We explore play-based coaching, pole vault as a developmental super-tool, contrasts between Eastern and American coaching philosophies, youth sport creativity, and sustainable tendon development.

It’s a conversation full of insight, storytelling, and reminders of what truly anchors a lifelong athletic journey: curiosity, joy, and the art of falling in love with movement.

Today’s episode is brought to you by Hammer Strength and LILA Exogen wearable resistance.

Use the code “justfly20” for 20% off any Lila Exogen wearable resistance training, including the popular Exogen Calf Sleeves. For this offer, head to Lilateam.com

Use code “justfly10” for 10% off the Vert Trainer

View more podcast episodes at the podcast homepage. (https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-home/)

0:00 – Early upbringing in Latvia and falling in love with movement

6:18 – Play, curiosity, and environment driven athlete development

14:50 – Injuries, setbacks, and choosing to continue competing

23:40 – Czech training experience and constraints based coaching

33:05 – European versus American development and long term athlete philosophy

45:10 – Games, novelty, and bringing play back into training

59:47 – Specialization mistakes and the importance of multi sport development

1:11:48 – Plyometrics, bounding, and gradual tissue adaptation

1:22:40 – Injury lessons, tendon health, and the value of long term gradual loading

Quotes from Reinis Krēgers

"In art of coaching, there has to be that mystery a little bit in some ways."

"I give a lot of constraints to kids for sprinting purposes, for actually developing their form and awareness in space. I try to explain them the constraint that you're developing something, you're developing the brain."

"The mess is good. The more mess the better, really. And embrace it. It's about changing the value system for coach, I think, and an educator."

"The world record holder played a lot. Why do we dare to say that we shouldn't?"

"Elite athletics is that like you just need to put in hours and reps and sets over years. Cumulative training effect: if you stay in the game if you don't have many disruptions and interruptions of training you should get somewhere like it's a formula."

"I was the oldest but the healthiest because they never took out sprints all year long. You're doing accelerations in off season four times a week."

"It will basically increase the recovery, the nervous system recovery if you do the opposite hand or leg."

About Reinis Krēgers

Reinis Krēgers is a Latvian track and physical preparation coach known for blending classical sprint mechanics with modern movement ecology. With a background in athletics and physical education, Reinis has built a reputation for developing athletes who are not only fast, but exceptionally coordinated, elastic, and adaptable across environments.

Drawing from European sprint traditions, plyometric culture, and cutting-edge motor-learning principles, Reinis emphasizes rhythm, posture, and natural force expression before “numbers.” His training sessions regularly weave together technical sprint development, multi-planar strength, and exploratory movement tasks, giving athletes the bandwidth to become resilient movers rather than rigid specialists.

Reinis works across youth, club, and competitive settings, helping sprinters, jumpers, and team-sport athletes gain speed, power, and physical literacy. His coaching is marked by clarity, intentionality, and an ability to meet athletes where they are, building them from foundational movement quality toward high-performance execution.

Whether on the track or in the PE hall, Reinis’ mission is the same: develop confident, capable movers who understand their bodies, enjoy the process, and carry a lifelong relationship with athleticism.

Today’s guest is Austin Jochum. Austin Jochum is the founder of Jochum Strength, a former All-Conference safety turned performance coach known for playful, movement-rich training. He blends strength, speed, and adaptability to help athletes build real-world capability and enjoy the process.

So often, coaches inadvertently play by the formal “rules” of coaching, through substantial instruction, within smaller boxes of training. Gameplay and sport itself are the ultimate example of task-based stimulation, chaos, and problem-solving, and the more we learn from it, the more effective our training can become.

In this episode, Austin Jochum and I explore how coaching transforms when you trade rigid cues for play, stimulus, and athlete-driven learning. We dig into why intent and novelty matter, how to “win the day” without chasing constant PRs, and the power of environments that let athletes self-organize. Austin speaks on his recent dive into improving his Olympic lifting, and subsequent improvement in explosive athletic power, along with the masculine and feminine nature of the snatch and clean and jerk, respectively. Finally, Austin also breaks down the JST Olympics—his team-based approach that’s exploding motivation, competition, and performance in the gym.

Today’s episode is brought to you by Hammer Strength and LILA Exogen wearable resistance.

Use the code “justfly20” for 20% off any Lila Exogen wearable resistance training, including the popular Exogen Calf Sleeves. For this offer, head to Lilateam.com

Use code “justfly10” for 10% off the Vert Trainer

View more podcast episodes at the podcast homepage. (https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-home/)

0:00 – Austin’s background, wrestling influence, and early training lens

8:12 – How wrestling shaped his coaching, problem-solving, and creativity

14:30 – Working with movement constraints, unpredictability, and the “maze” idea

22:40 – Why he prioritizes exploration over instruction

31:18 – Building athletic bandwidth through games and environmental design

38:01 – Touch on wrestling in training and contact-oriented movement

45:10 – Heavy rope training, rhythm, and full-body sequencing

52:46 – Hiring coaches and building culture inside his gym

1:01:37 – Athlete intuitiveness, imitation, and imitation-driven learning

1:10:55 – Recovery methods, cold exposure, and principles behind them

1:18:42 – Breathing mechanics, sensory awareness, and relaxation

1:24:52 – Tempo, rhythm, and “feel” in athletic movement

1:30:48 – Coaching philosophy and where Austin is heading next

Quotes from Austin Jochum

"That was a big coaching shift for me is like working for the athletes in front of me and what their feedback was versus working for the Boyles, working for the head strength coach, working for the head sport coach, working for the head administrator that just wants to see pretty straight lines and their program regurgitated over and over again."

"Why can't today we give them a benefit, a reason to show up and have fun so that we can get to those long-term gains."

"It's all LARPing like we are LARPing as strength coaches when we do that and I don't know if it's just like they're not aware enough to realize they're LARPing, but it's like it's a video game they are playing and it's like they're trying to play off that they know something more than other people."

"You should not be here to correct an athlete's foot placements on a skip when it's like, man, when is that, when is that applicable?"

"The thing that works is getting intent and being excited for your training. If you're not excited to go Olympic lift, they're not going to work."

"You're going to become a faster athlete if you PR in your sprints every other week. Like why are we not going and approaching it that way to get that high stimulus out of the athlete?"

"If you can stack days of your wins, I'm telling you, you get the athletes way more stimulus and they're way more psychologically ready."

"Once I got to like 350 on my clean and got to like 225 on the snatch, I stopped noticing the direct benefit, just because it was a strength deficit. I stopped noticing the direct benefit to my sprints and jumps. Now the benefit comes when I'm hitting that 65 to 85 % range."

About Austin Jochum

Austin Jochum is the founder of Jochum Strength, a performance coach known for blending old-school grit with modern movement science. A former University of St. Thomas football player and All-Conference safety, Austin built his philosophy around “training the human first,” emphasizing play, adaptability, and athletic expression over rigid templates. His coaching blends strength, speed, breathwork, and movement variability, creating athletes who are not just powerful—but resilient and skillful in chaotic environments. Through his in-person gym in Minnesota, online programs, and the Jochum Strength Podcast, Austin has become a leading voice in community-driven athletic development, helping athletes and everyday movers reconnect with their bodies, build real-world ability, and enjoy the process.

Today’s guest is Bill Smart. Bill is a sport scientist and physical preparation coach specializing in elite fight-sports performance. As the founder of Smarter Performance and the Strength & Conditioning lead for the CORE MMA team, Bill integrates cutting-edge evidence with real-world high-performance systems to enable combat athletes to show up on fight day in optimal physiological condition.

Much of the conversation in sports performance hinges on speed and power development, or conditioning, as a stand-alone conversation. Sport itself is dynamic and combines elements of speed, strength, and endurance in a dynamic space. Training should follow the same considerations to be truly alive and effective.

In the episode, Bill shares his journey from cycling and rowing to combat sports. He discusses how long isometric holds develop both physical and mental resilience, and their implementation in his programming. The conversation dives into muscle-oxygen dynamics, integrating ISOs with conditioning, and how testing shapes his approach. Bill also explores flywheel eccentrics, fascicle-length development, and why sprinting is a key element for maintaining elastic power in elite fighters.

Today’s episode is brought to you by Hammer Strength and the Just Fly Sports Online Courses

30-50% off all courses until December 1, 2025. (https://justflysports.thinkific.com)

Use code “justfly10” for 10% off the Vert Trainer

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Timestamps

0:00 – Bill’s coaching journey and early mentors

6:04 – The importance of movement observation and intuition

11:35 – Why athletes plateau and how to identify limiting factors

20:42 – Strength training principles that actually transfer

30:01 – Using movement variability and play in training

40:36 – Coaching communication and creating connection

52:09 – The role of curiosity and creativity in coaching longevity

1:00:55 – Key lessons from years of coaching experience

Quotes from Bill Smart

"I know Gus and Angus Ross, who is one of my colleagues at HPCNZ he talks about those long ISOs as being basically your average motivated athletes training method because it's uncomfortable you've got to be very motivated to move through it."

"Soon as there's a bit of like involuntary muscle action, you're probably in quite a productive place in terms of timeframe."

"The cognitive element is something that gets brushed over a little bit, especially from scientific populations, which is interesting because essentially the brain governs everything that we do."

"I do think that it's quite common that we often disassociate cognitive from physical."

"Breathing is one of those other things that plays a large role in some of the efficiency components."

"Whatever the intervention is matches what we need for the sport and not an excess. And for fighters a lot of the times, conditioning is definitely not something that's lacking. So it's it's great to have these other means to elicit some of that."

"Skills training is like the absolute most important thing. So basically all training from a conditioning or strength standpoint needs to be maximally efficient to get to design results for an athlete."

"The primary area that you find mixed martial arts athletes will fatigue is the upper body because of like all the clinch work, the grappling work."

About Bill Smart

Bill Smart is a sport scientist and physical preparation coach specialising in elite fight-sports performance. As the founder of Smarter Performance and the Strength & Conditioning lead for the CORE MMA team, Bill integrates cutting-edge evidence with real-world high-performance systems to enable combat athletes to show up on fight day in optimal physiological condition.

Today’s guest is Sam Elsner. Sam is a former NCAA Division III national champion thrower turned motor learning writer and educator. He’s the author of The Play Advantage and creator of the Substack CALIBRATE, where he explores how humans learn movement through play, perception, and environment design. Sam brings a rare blend of elite athletic experience and deep skill-acquisition insight to help coaches and athletes move beyond drills toward true adaptability and creativity in sport.

As athletic performance is largely driven by weight-lifting. It digs into maximal strength and force-related outcomes in such excess that all other elements of athleticism are negated. Skill learning and high velocity movement are the wellspring of sporting success. As such, having a balanced understanding of the training equation is critical for the long-term interest of the athlete.

On today’s podcast, Sam and I dive into how athletes truly learn to move. Sam traces his journey from WIAC throws circles to Cal Dietz’s weight room, why a rigid “triphasic for everyone” phase backfired with a soccer team, and how ecological dynamics and a constraints-led lens reshaped his coaching. Together we unpack the strength–skill interplay, 1×20 “slow-cook” gains versus block periodization, the value of autonomous, creative training application. We touch on youth development, culture, and team ecology, plus where pros are experimenting with these ideas. This episode is loaded with both philosophy of training and skill learning, along with practical takeaways in program design.

Today’s episode is brought to you by Hammer Strength.

Use the code “justfly20” for 20% off any Lila Exogen wearable resistance training, including the popular Exogen Calf Sleeves. For this offer, head to Lilateam.com

Use code “justfly10” for 10% off the Vert Trainer

View more podcast episodes at the podcast homepage. (https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-home/)

Timestamps

1:18 - Early training experiences and triphasic background

5:44 - Implementing triphasic as a young coach

11:22 - The failure of rigid block periodization

17:49 - Vertical integration and maintaining all qualities

24:58 - Discovery of the ecological dynamics lens

29:57 - Why skill learning changed his view of strength

35:43 - 1x20 as a slow cooking strength framework

43:15 - Autonomy and stance/position freedom in the weight room

52:38 - Culture, environment, and how athletes learn

1:00:43 - Highlight play examples and perception-action

1:14:23 - Constraint-led models in team sport settings

1:20:55 - Where to find Sam’s work

Quotes

"I use track and field as a segue to bettering my performance and my physical capabilities for football, getting prepped for that."

"Traditional skill development or coaching really kind of hindered my capability of my ceiling."

"I've always had that overarching question in my head of how do I bridge the gap between practice and game day performance?"

"At the time I thought it was drill, rudimentary rote repetition type practices. I'm here today, I'm on the complete opposite end of that on what I believe."

"In order to do true Westside, you got to be in Columbus, Ohio at Westside with Louis Simmons or his very close people that he talked with. Otherwise, everything else is just an iteration of Triphasic. It's your own paintbrush on the canvas."

"Everything works to a point and it's not just like this way versus this way. No, there's integration. Everything that we do in life is blended together."

"If you're able to get younger individuals being able to explore and play, I think later on in their life, they'll be able to be that like "gifted athlete" and be able to allow to come up with their own artistic way of doing things."

"I'm in that bank of the more sports, the better as a younger age, like multi-sport athlete, no specialization."

"I tried to implement triphasic trainer right away, block periodization and it blew up in my face because it was their preseason work. They're slower. They're not able to adjust on the pitch or anything like that and they're just like slow and just non-athletic."

About Sam Elsner

Sam Elsner is a former NCAA Division III national champion thrower from the University of Wisconsin-Stout who has transitioned into a leading voice in motor learning and skill acquisition. A six-time All-American and 2018 discus champion, Sam brings a deep, first-hand understanding of performance and training into his current work, exploring how athletes truly learn movement rather than just repeat drills.

Now writing the popular Substack CALIBRATE and authoring The Play Advantage, Sam bridges neuroscience, ecological dynamics, and lived athletic experience to help coaches and performers unlock adaptability, creativity, and “feel” in sport. His work reframes coaching from rote technique toward curiosity, environment design, and the art of human learning in motion.

Today’s guest is Ben Simons. Ben is a British performance coach and two-time Olympic bobsledder with a background in sprinting and sports science. A former World Cup gold medallist, he’s now focused on helping athletes develop speed, power, and coordination through evidence-based, real-world training methods. Ben blends biomechanics, motor learning, and nervous-system training to build explosive, adaptable athletes.

Many speed training topics and conversations focus exclusively on the most stimulating possible methods; fewer get into individual factors, athlete adaptability, and how that speed and power training evolves with the needs of the athlete.

On today’s show, Ben and I discuss asymmetry, rhythm, and “aliveness” in sprint and power development. We explore when to let unique mechanics—like Byanda Wlaza’s galloping stride—run their course versus coaching toward a technical model. Ben gets into the general speed training lessons he gained from bobsled, and shares why he now favors yielding isometrics, unilateral strength, and med ball throws over heavy lifts, emphasizing longevity, reflexive strength, and movement variability. We finish with how curvilinear sprints, pool work, and playful, multidirectional movement help athletes stay reactive, adaptable, and pain-free.

Today’s episode is brought to you by Hammer Strength and LILA Exogen wearable resistance.

Use the code “justfly20” for 20% off any Lila Exogen wearable resistance training, including the popular Exogen Calf Sleeves. For this offer, head to Lilateam.com

Use code “justfly10” for 10% off the Vert Trainer

View more podcast episodes at the podcast homepage. (https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-home/)

Timestamps

0:00 – Asymmetry, gallop running, and what to do with extremes

12:25 – Air-time vs ground work: why the stuff in the air transfers to sprinting

16:08 – From long jump and 4x100 to bobsled trials and the push track

19:57 – Retirement, coming back, and the management needed for longevity

24:04 – Achilles management, playing sport, and the power of movement variety

31:09 – Practical coaching advice: get people back into the sport they love

41:31 – Curvilinear sprints, feeling safe, and bringing play into rehab

45:53 – How bobsled pushing changed Ben’s acceleration and posterior chain

52:28 – Hamstring training, velocity, and the limits of eccentric volume

59:46 – Practical tools: tank sleds, prowlers, glute-ham machines, and Zurcher split squats

1:08:19 – Why Ben minimized compound max lifts and what he uses now

1:24:46 – Programming for mature athletes: living off the strength bank and using yield isometrics

 Quotes from Ben Simons

"Almost all speed coaches are going to try and move their athletes back towards that perfect technical model."

"Kicking a ball thousands of times in your development... you very quickly fall into your dominant leg."

"One of the arguments with traditional A's and B's is that you're isolating one side and you're changing the learning process there because you're actually taking a reflexive action, which is the cross-extensive reflex that you get in a dribble."

"Modulating the pain is a huge piece within that rehabilitation because you're not going to compensate as much when you feel less pain."

"Just making sure we stay in touch with that reflexive part of the movement, you know, in the coupling phase, in the amortization is key."

"When you're upright pushing a bobsleigh... you have got to put that impulse through the sled itself. So it does feel like there's almost a punching going on with your handles."

"If you get him into a glute ham raise... can really feel that pelvis position under duress which is a great way to teach people where they are in space because a lot of people just don't understand the tension that they need within that pelvis and lumbar to get it neutral."

"I think in developmental stages, it's definitely those compound lifts and max strength methods are the easiest way to make gains in strength and output... But I just wonder once that money is in the bank, how far you need to pursue them."

About Ben Simons

Ben Simons OLY is a British performance coach and former Olympic bobsledder with a background in sprinting and sports science. A two-time Olympian (Sochi 2014, PyeongChang 2018) and World Cup gold medallist, Ben spent a decade representing Great Britain on the international stage, competing in over 120 events. Before bobsleigh, he was a Welsh indoor 60 m champion and studied sports science at Cardiff Met, experiences that laid the foundation for his lifelong focus on speed and power development.

Today, Ben brings that elite-sport experience to his work as a strength, speed, and performance coach. His approach blends biomechanics, motor learning, and nervous-system training to help athletes move efficiently and perform explosively under pressure. With an emphasis on coordination, recovery, and data-driven methods, Ben coaches athletes and teams across sports to bridge the gap between research and real-world performance, developing complete athletes who are as resilient and adaptable as they are fast and strong.

Today’s guest is Cody Hughes. Cody is a strength and performance coach at Farm & Forge in Nashville, blending over a decade of collegiate and private-sector experience into a practical, athlete-centered approach. His work bridges foundational movement with modern tools like VBT and GPS tracking, always anchored by the belief that health drives performance.

With the rising influence of technology in training, it can become more difficult to look clearly at the core facets of athletic force production, as well as how to optimally use technology to fill gaps, inform decisions, and even motivate groups.

On today’s episode, Cody traces his shift from heavy-loading bias to a performance lens built on force management, eccentric RFD, and training that actually reflects sport. We unpack depth drops vs. “snapdowns,” why rigid “landing mechanics” miss the mark, and how movement literacy, variability, and velocity drive speed and durability. On the tech side, we get into velocity-based training (VBT) as a feedback and motivation tool, using it to gamify effort and auto-regulate load, and knowing when to remove the numbers to protect recovery and intent.

Leaderboards, incentives, and smart stimulus design all matter, but Cody keeps it clear that data supports the human element that produces real power.

Today’s episode is brought to you by Hammer Strength and LILA Exogen wearable resistance.

Use the code “justfly20” for 20% off any Lila Exogen wearable resistance training, including the popular Exogen Calf Sleeves. For this offer, head to Lilateam.com

Use code “justfly10” for 10% off the Vert Trainer

View more podcast episodes at the podcast homepage. (https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-home/)

Timestamps

0:00 – Early lifting story and the hip replacement turning point

5:31 – Coaching development, biases, and error-driven learning

19:29 – The snapdown debate: context, progressions, and purpose

25:44 – What eccentric RFD tells us about athletic durability

30:42 – Strength as expression: assessments and force-plate logic

42:31 – Movement literacy and using competitive, decision-rich drills

49:30 – VBT explained: feedback, governors, and gamification

56:50 – When to hide feedback: elite athletes and psychological load

1:01:35 – Where VBT shines: youth and early training ages

1:25:28 – Wrap up and where to find Cody

Quotes from Cody Hughes

"You gotta have a minimum of like 135-140 minutes a week of training to be effective to get some type of minimum effective dose."

"Movement efficiency is everything to be able to express any type of movement skill."

"Too many people running high school weight rooms are simply sport coaches that felt like they know what they're doing. They pull out a manual from what they did or they think that they used a very shallow thinking model of X football team won X amount of games, therefore their program must work."

"If you can't explain what you're doing with your program... it's just this carbon copy. It's a dead static program, not a living environment or a living complex system where you're making decisions based off of your kids."

"Performance coaching... it's such an art. There is no straightforward answer, like period."

"Load is inversely correlated with speed. Great. So now we can match velocities to the type of stimulus we're looking for on top of trying to gamify the training in order to amplify the stimulus of the training that already existed."

"If you stand on a force plate, I can take three measurements with propulsive power, breaking power at MRSI and learn a lot about what you can do and how you express it."

"You don't just want to reward the fast kid because if the fast kid may always be the fast kid, they need to be incentivized to try to be a more fast kid."

About Cody Hughes

Cody Hughes, MS, SCCC, CSCS, PSL1, is a strength and performance coach at Farm & Forge in Nashville, Tennessee. A former collegiate athlete with more than a decade of coaching experience across NCAA Division I and II programs, high schools, and the private sector, Cody brings a practical, athlete-centered approach to performance training. His work focuses on building strong movement foundations, using technology like velocity-based training and GPS tracking to inform programming without losing the art of coaching.

At Farm & Forge, Cody leads programs for athletes ranging from youth to professionals in sports such as football, hockey, and tennis. Whether guiding a developing athlete or a veteran player, Cody’s goal is to help each individual move well, train smart, and perform consistently at their best.

Today’s guest is James de Lacey. James is a professional strength and conditioning coach and the founder of Sweet Science of Fighting, a leading platform for combat sports performance. He has coached in professional rugby leagues across New Zealand, Europe, and the United States, and has trained athletes in MMA, boxing, Muay Thai, and BJJ. Through Sweet Science of Fighting, he delivers evidence-based programs and education for fighters and coaches worldwide.

Strength training for athleticism typically focuses on sets, reps, and general forces, but rarely gets into aliveness and skill management of the resistance itself. The former is great for building basic physical competencies, but in integrating the latter, we can breathe more life into a performance program.

On today’s show, we dive into James' approach to building athletic strength and power across multiple mediums. We explore how Olympic lifting, especially pull variations, connects to real sport actions, and how striking and collision sports highlight the importance of timing, rigidity, and effective mass. We also break down resistance methods like oscillatory work, flywheels, and accentuated eccentrics, focusing on their alive, reactive qualities rather than just load. These principles carry into speed and power training, including plyometrics and sprinting, with rhythm and movement quality as a central theme. The episode makes strong connections between field sports and combat sports, showing how momentum, relaxation, and rigidity at impact shape performance.

Today’s episode is brought to you by Hammer Strength and LILA Exogen wearable resistance.

Use the code “justfly20” for 20% off any Lila Exogen wearable resistance training, including the popular Exogen Calf Sleeves. For this offer, head to Lilateam.com

Use code “justfly10” for 10% off the Vert Trainer

View more podcast episodes at the podcast homepage. (https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-home/)

Timestamps

0:56 - Olympic Lifting Philosophy and Sport-Specific Implementation

4:26 - The Role of Bar Flex and Slack in Block Pulls vs. Rack Pulls

7:03 - High Block Work for Impulse and Technical Refinement

12:22 - Oscillatory Training and the Limits of Maximal Strength

24:49 - Upper/Lower Body Dissociation for Fluid Movement and Game Speed

52:25 - Controlled Eccentric Overload using Flywheel Technology

Quotes

"High pull was probably my favorite variation of all time, just because you're supporting heavy loads, you're having to maintain positions over the bar, and then you're having this violent extension pulling it vertically."

"I found snatch variations tend to be easier on the shoulders for a lot of athletes, like especially in rugby and stuff. They're not actually that easier to learn than the clean variation because the front rack is so difficult for so many people."

"The power rack holds the bar, whereas the blocks hold the plates. You have no slack. So it just makes it way harder."

"I stole from Vern (Gambetta) the power lunge and lean. So like the medicine ball out in front, and as you step forward, you kind of rotate over, and it's like continuous. And then the same thing overhead and lean. Those two, I use those on warmups all the time. They're great."

"Regarding the actual eccentric, people will say it's not eccentric overload because it gives you the same as what you put concentrically. But you can modify the way you either do the concentric or the eccentric to be able to create the overload."

"I think a lot of these machines, the best applications are in the eccentric overload stuff, because you're limited with traditional lifting where you either have to do super heavy loads, multiple spotters, or weight releases."

About James de Lacey

James de Lacey is a professional strength & conditioning coach and the founder of Sweet Science of Fighting, a leading platform for combat sports performance education. He holds a Master’s degree in Sport & Exercise Science and has worked as an S&C coach in professional rugby leagues across New Zealand, Europe, and the United States, as well as with MMA, boxing, Muay Thai, and BJJ athletes.

Through Sweet Science of Fighting, he creates evidence-based programs, courses, and research breakdowns focused on strength, power, conditioning, and technical performance for fighters and coaches. His work bridges sports science with the practical demands of combat sports, making high-level training methods accessible and applicable worldwide.

Today’s guest is Manuel Buitrago. Manuel is a PhD, along with being the founder and director of MaStrength, a global education brand dedicated to authentic Chinese weightlifting. Since launching MaStrength in 2014, he’s taught 100+ seminars worldwide, authored Chinese Weightlifting: A Visual Guide to Technique and Chinese Weightlifting: Technical Mastery & Training

There are many misconceptions in the world of strength training, especially as the lens of a skeletal pressure-based view is not included in modern training systems. When skeletal pressure dynamics are understood, it allows us to see why athletes prefer particular variations of lifts, how and why they fail lifts, and what aspects of the lifts themselves lead to better athletic outcomes.

On today’s episode, Manuel speaks on the practicalities of weightlifting and how it carries over to sport. He compares powerlifting and Olympic lifting from a technique and transfer standpoint, and gets into how body shapes, breathing, and set-ups affect a lift. Manuel also touches on connective tissue and why it matters for performance and durability. From this episode, you’ll learn concepts about the Olympic and powerlifts that can not only improve lifting performance but also facilitate a better transfer to athleticism and movement ability.

Today’s episode is brought to you by Hammer Strength.

Use code “justfly10” for 10% off the Vert Trainer at thedunkcamp.com

Use code “justfly20” for 20% off of LILA Exogen Wearable resistance gear at www.lilateam.com

View more podcast episodes at the podcast homepage. (https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-home/)

Timestamps

0:00 - From gymnastics and powerlifting to Chinese weightlifting

3:34 - First Olympic lifting exposure via IronMind footage and Pyrs Dimas

5:40 - The Chinese team’s systematic approach that sparked the study abroad

9:30 - Breathing, shapes, and the funnel concept for lifting

26:15 - Bottom-up squats: why weightlifting squats differ from powerlifting squats

30:45 - Training near the hip and block work to bias upward, explosive shapes

41:08 - Squat jerk versus split jerk - body shape, femur length, and selection

54:34 - Box squats, touch-and-go versus deloading - individualize by athlete shape

58:29 - Practical breathing cues to create and switch the funnel shape

1:07:24 - Applying shapes to sport - who benefits from which strategies

Quotes

"When you do the lifts, it's not just one shape you need because you have to go up, but you also have to go down.

"If you're breathing like a power lifter in the start position, you're making your job more difficult."

"In weightlifting, the squats happen after the catch. So all of your squats are from the bottom up actually."

"People who overhead squat from the rack, they're not going to get as deep. They're not going to bend the same way as they would in a snatch because the snatch is unweighted when you get under it."

"People would blame the nervous system, it's like, does not help me in real time when I'm coaching athletes. I need something else and the shape is easier to see."

"You totally can bend bone, you know, and they do bend throughout the movements."

"All of it is working together. And so you have to find a way to put it all together rather than try to separate it because you'll get lost."

About Manuel Buitrago

Manuel Buitrago, PhD, is a coach, author, and the founder/director of MaStrength, where he teaches the techniques, theory, and programming principles of Chinese weightlifting to athletes and coaches around the world. He launched MaStrength in 2014 and has since delivered more than a hundred seminars and training camps internationally while building a widely followed library of articles, videos, and social content on Chinese methods. Buitrago holds an honorary weightlifting coaching credential from Chengdu Sports University, reflecting years of study, mentorship, and translation work with Chinese sports scientists and coaches. He is also a certified USA Weightlifting coach and referee. His books—Chinese Weightlifting: A Visual Guide to Technique and Chinese Weightlifting: Technical Mastery & Training—distill the system’s technical model and practical programming into accessible resources that have been translated into multiple languages.

Today’s guest is Jack Barry. Jack is the founder of JB Performance and a former ABCA DIII All-American (York College, 2021) who played at Salisbury University. After college, he worked at Tread Athletics, then built a remote+in-person coaching model. Jack has coached athletes from high school to pro levels, appeared on Baseball America’s 90th Percentile, and hosts the “Just Rippin’” podcast.

On today’s episode, Jack speaks on athletic potential as a function of work capacity with quality, deliberate practice. We unpack the mental side of training, how visualization, targeted self-talk, and timely pattern breaks calm performance anxiety and restore confidence. He also touches on how athletes thrive when they develop a unique identity, balance effort with recovery, and treat mindset and mechanics as equal partners. This is a dynamic episode, at the intersection of pitching skill and global human performance concepts.

Today’s episode is brought to you by Hammer Strength and LILA Exogen wearable resistance.

Use the code “justfly25” for 25% off any Lila Exogen wearable resistance training, including the popular Exogen Calf Sleeves. For this offer, head to Lilateam.com

Use code “justfly10” for 10% off the Vert Trainer

View more podcast episodes at the podcast homepage. (https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-home/)

Timestamps

0:20 – From college ball to new competitive outlets4:10 – Work capacity, family influences, and cross-training7:10 – Adapting training: speed, volume, and specificity10:01 – Aerobic contributions in racket and throwing sports15:46 – Provoking reactivity: stumble drills and innate responses23:16 – Pattern breaks, the yips, and the "be sexy" mentality27:44 – Reactive throwing drills to clean the arm action31:15 – Pre-movement cues and subtle distractions to speed action43:21 – Visualization with highlight reels to build confidence52:25 – Essentialism in training: less and better59:50 – Start with less, progress intelligently1:00:25 – Barefoot training and simplifying the lower half

Quotes

"I'm probably not going to be the strongest guy in the gym, but darn it if I'm not going to have one of the highest VO2 maxes and work capacity and be able to cook you on the track."

"If you want to get faster, if you want to increase your work output, you have to approach those two different sessions in the same way."

"If you do want to get faster, if you do want to be able to run further for longer at faster paces, you need to kind of split up the focuses of each one of those training sessions and supplement them in throughout the week."

"Racket sports with throwers, especially a lot of crossover there but as far as like the work capacity point definitely a lot easier to sort of program in or give to guys to when you give them like a competitive outlet."

"Conditioning for court sports is miserable. If you put us indoors and you just give us lines that we have to go back and forth on for 200 times or whatever for an hour straight. That's the physical sport representation of the looney bin essentially."

"The reactive component to pitching is completely unreactive in the sense that you start every play with pitching. You have 20 seconds in between throws and you're throwing to a stagnant target."

"You need to verbalize it in order to give it less of an importance or a significance. I'm going to use the Y word."

About Jack Barry

Jack Barry, CSCS, is the founder of JB Performance, where he helps pitchers turn efficient mechanics and smart workloads into game-day velocity and command. His process blends slow-motion video breakdown, individualized drill progressions, and clear week-to-week plans that are simple to follow and easy to measure. Jack’s focus areas include strength & conditioning, throwing mechanics and workload management, pitch design, and mobility. Jack Barry Performance

Before coaching online, Jack played college baseball at Salisbury University, then continued his career at York College (PA), where he earned ABCA Division III All-American honors in 2021. After his playing career, he joined Tread Athletics, sharpening his player-development chops inside a high-feedback, data-aware environment. BachTalk+1

Jack has been featured on Baseball America’s 90th Percentile podcast and hosts “Just Rippin’,” where he talks shop with coaches and athletes. He’s worked with pitchers from high school through the professional ranks, delivering concise feedback after each bullpen—what to keep, what to change, and exactly how to practice it—with objective checkpoints (velo, strike %, spin/axis when available) and long-term arm-health planning.

Today’s guest is Romain Tourillon. Romain is a sports physiotherapist and researcher specializing in the foot–ankle complex, with clinical leadership at the Swiss Olympic Medical Center, La Tour Hospital (Geneva). His PhD at Université Jean Monnet Saint-Étienne examined foot muscle strength and sport performance.

It’s important to train the lower legs in athletes, but the question is what type of training is best, especially when it comes to working the toes and forefoot, versus more general calf and shin work.

In this episode, Romain discusses his research on forefoot biomechanics and performance. He shares training that boosted MTP (big-toe) flexion strength ~28% in trained athletes and explains how stronger forefeet enhance sprinting, cutting, and jumping via better force transmission and stability. We also cover injury prevention, targeted foot/ankle exercises, challenges in measuring toe strength, and where 3D analyses may take the field— with practical takeaways for coaches and athletes throughout.

Today’s episode is brought to you by Hammer Strength and the Just Fly Sports Online Courses

Check out the newest mini-course, Sprint Drills Reloaded on how to maximize sprint drills, their specific strength development, building of major sprint actions, along with better integration of sprint drills into sprinting technique. The special intro sale ends July 1st. (https://justflysports.thinkific.com/courses/sprint-drills-reloaded)

Use code “justfly10” for 10% off the Vert Trainer

Use code “justfly20” for 20% off of LILA Exogen Wearable resistance gear at www.lilateam.com

View more podcast episodes at the podcast homepage. (https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-home/)

Timestamps

0:00 Building a PhD Protocol from Real-Life Training

4:46 Using Everyday Objects to Innovate Foot Training

8:16 Surface Texture and Proprioception in Barefoot Work

11:27 Breaking Down Romain’s PhD Research on the Forefoot

16:22 Gym and Home-Based Protocols for MTP Flexion

22:11 Measuring Toe and Forefoot Strength Accurately

31:20 Mobility of the Forefoot and Its Role in Force Production

37:31 Results: How 8 Weeks of Forefoot Training Changed Performance

43:54 Explaining the Improvements in Cutting, Jumping, and Sprinting

53:01 Linking Forefoot Strength to Ankle Stability and Injury Prevention

58:23 Isolated Toe Training vs. Global Foot and Calf Training

1:15:09 Designing General Foot-Ankle Programs for Teams

Romain Tourillon Quotes

"One of my philosophy as a rehab coach is also you know to I would say be able to do all the exercises that I can give to your athletes. Also because you understand a little bit the feeling and the intensity or the way that you have to do it."

"There is no good or bad exercise, there is just some parameter that you really have to focus on but you can really have different kind of way of targeting things."

"From proprioceptive things we know that the foot and ankle really have the ability to change its biomechanics regarding to the surface that you are in contact with."

"We know that if it helps you, your brain will know that and after you've put an ankle which turn off a little bit just to have a kind of economic things."

"The idea of the PAG was really to... I would say investigate the role and the function of the forefoot flexion strength."

"Those muscles are pretty sensitive to angle and to dorsiflexion. So changing the angle of the ankle, so putting your ankle into dorsiflexion or plantar flexion, change the force length relationships of the extrinsic to flexor."

"We don't have an ISO. It's what I say. We don't have an ISO kinetic for the toes. So we don't have any gold standard."

About Romain Tourillon

Romain Tourillon, PT, PhD, is a sports physiotherapist, researcher, and educator focused on foot–ankle biomechanics in health, injury, and high performance. He leads the foot–ankle service at the Swiss Olympic Medical Center (La Tour Hospital, Geneva) and consults with elite athletes. Romain earned his PhD at Université Jean Monnet Saint-Étienne, with work centered on metatarsophalangeal (MTP) flexion strength and its links to sprinting, cutting, and jumping performance. His publications and talks translate cutting-edge research into practical assessment and training methods for coaches and clinicians.